SIBU: The Education Ministry’s decision to allow students sitting for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination to take 10 subjects at the most drew mixed reactions from parents and teachers.

Teo Eng Hock, a father of three, gave his thumbs up to the move, saying it would benefit the parents as it meant less pressure on the students.

“Having less subjects to study will help reduce the pressure and on top of that, can help parents save money as children need not go for additional tuition classes,” he added.

He said parents these days were very ‘academic conscious’ and would send their children to take up tuition classes in order to excel in their studies.

“They want their children to be the best and that is why many are willing to go to the extent of selling their properties to finance their children’s education,” he said.

Single mother Catherine Loh, however, felt the move might not augur well for the students as it would deprive children of the opportunity to showcase their talent in their best subjects.

With only 10 subjects to take, Loh said some students might have to give up their favourite subjects like Art and Chinese which were not under the compulsory subjects lists.

For instance, she said a student who wished to take up either Chinese or Art might have to forgo some of the Science subjects like Physics, Chemistry or Biology.

“But without the Science subjects, students may find it difficult to take up matriculation course upon completion of their SPM. So it’s rather confusing here,” she said.

A father who wanted to be identified only as Hii suggested the school authorities organise counselling sessions for students the moment they enter Form 4.

“This is to give them a better picture of the future direction and prepare them early as it will affect their future should they make the wrong choice,” he added.

Another parent, Anna Sii said she was particularly concerned about the award of the JPA scholarships to outstanding students.

Sii believed that more students would score top results but does that mean the government was going to increase the allocation and award all the elite students who scored the maximum 10A1s, she asked

“Believe me, the number of top students will surely increase as they only need to concentrate on 10 subjects,” she said, hoping that the government would be fair when it came to awarding of JPA scholarships to keep the 1Malaysia concept alive.

A teacher, who preferred to remain anonymous, described it as a good move, saying it would give more time to the students to spend on co-curricular activities.

“Once they spend more time on co-curricular activities, it will also go a long way in helping to shape a more balanced character among the students,” he added.

“Since the new procedure is no longer that academic inclined, it means teachers can spend more time with the students to help in character building.

“And instead of two hours, students can spend up to four or five hours on co-curricular activities,” he said.

He said indirectly it might also help the country in producing more outstanding sportspersons.